This is my 2nd season, so I decided to plan a real trip out west with the woman and some friends. What a blast...

Snowbird is no joke...that place is definitely the real deal. Humbled me REAL quick.

Solitude was fun, spent lots of time in the Honeycomb Canyon trees.

Brighton was by far my favorite resort of the three...great snow, good groomers, lots of fun tree runs...just an awesome place.

I got a ton of video that I'll post later, but here's a quick pic from Snowbird:

Rode Monday-Friday, but had to quit early on Friday after flipping down the back of the mountain at Snowbird at high speed (Read: too fast)...neck and right shoulder don't feel great...but will heal...

I'm heading there in a couple weeks and likely hitting the same three mountains. (I've only skied Snowbird and Alta - never boarded in Utah.) After having spent most of my life out West I try to explain real mountains to my East Coast friends, but most just don't understand until they go. Glad you had a good time. As you have probably figured out, it is worth making an annual trip west.

Heading to Snowbird to ride Friday and Saturday. Looks like Thursday is the day to go but oh well. Wife paid for my flight and lift tickets and isn't even going (so no babysitting for me!) so I can't complain.

So how was Snowbird specifically that it humbled you? I can tackle almost all in-bounds terrain except the gnarliest (still too much of a pussy to ride cornices and shit)

I'm heading there in a couple weeks and likely hitting the same three mountains. (I've only skied Snowbird and Alta - never boarded in Utah.) After having spent most of my life out West I try to explain real mountains to my East Coast friends, but most just don't understand until they go. Glad you had a good time. As you have probably figured out, it is worth making an annual trip west.

Definitely worth an annual trip. Already thinking Mammoth next year.

All in all, the total trip including airfare, lift tickets, hotel, and food cost me less than $1,200. (Thanks Marriott points!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdang307

Heading to Snowbird to ride Friday and Saturday. Looks like Thursday is the day to go but oh well. Wife paid for my flight and lift tickets and isn't even going (so no babysitting for me!) so I can't complain.

So how was Snowbird specifically that it humbled you? I can tackle almost all in-bounds terrain except the gnarliest (still too much of a pussy to ride cornices and shit)

It's just no joke...I mean, you can get stuck in an area where your only way back down is either a double black, or a double black lol. And it's not very well marked like Brighton.

And their greens are comparable to a lot of black runs here. Not only that, but nothing was groomed, so all the runs were choppy...lots of snow, but not smooth powder, so if you're not used to that, it'll chew you up and spit you out...at least it did to me. I was finally getting comfortable with those kinds of conditions, and was riding with some speed down the back and hit a chunk and just tumbled and tumbled. Good times, but it's been a very very painful couple of days. Haha

This angers me to no end about podunk eastern hills. Trail ratings should be roughly universal but the little mountains out here want to impress everyone with their "expert" terrain. Most people end up fine, but there is always the dumb kid who says, "Well I can ski double-black diamonds at Pat's Peak so I can ski off the KT-22." There are obviously some places with true advanced/expert terrain in the East, but too many places equate trail rating with marketing.

This angers me to no end about podunk eastern hills. Trail ratings should be roughly universal but the little mountains out here want to impress everyone with their "expert" terrain. Most people end up fine, but there is always the dumb kid who says, "Well I can ski double-black diamonds at Pat's Peak so I can ski off the KT-22." There are obviously some places with true advanced/expert terrain in the East, but too many places equate trail rating with marketing.

/rant

Lol...true story to back you up....Years ago I started skiing...was about 25 or so. I live in NC so not a lot of expert terrain here. I skied for 1 season(meaning I got to go about 5-6 day trips) and we took one weekend trip to Snowshoe Wva. Me and my roommate at the time had never skiied before but we really loved it. At Snowshoe another friend of mine that was a very good skier got us going down a couple of the "double blacks" there. We were able to make it down with some difficulty but no broken bones, lol. That summer we went out and bought our own gear and the following winter me and the roommate went to Stowe for a week. Well it was horrible conditions...icy as hell and fog, etc. We decided we would try a double black diamond at Stowe because hey what the hell, we had ridden them before no prob. Me and my friend started down one of these things and at first it wasn't to bad. Vey similar in pitch/difficulty to what we were used to. Then we come around the bend to a cliff, lol. Our skis are sticking off in the air. It was too steep to go back up so we had no choice but to go down. I kind of side slipped/jumped off, tried to make a turn but my feet slid out and I started sliding. I remember sliding so fast that I was passing people that were skiing! I thought I have got to slow down so I tried to ram my ski edges in which of course caused me to flip end over end down the hill. When I finally came to rest I was under a lift and people were yelling to ask me if I was ok. I luckily, amazingly, was intact and said so. Then I got a round of applause, lol. Scared the beejesus out of me. I had skis and gear scattered behind me halfway up the mountain. That definitely opened my eyes up to how one mountains black diamond may not equal anothers.

Heading to Snowbird to ride Friday and Saturday. Looks like Thursday is the day to go but oh well. Wife paid for my flight and lift tickets and isn't even going (so no babysitting for me!) so I can't complain.

I rode solitude thursday. Was the day fo sho' Deep fluffy pow turns were made.

My trip didnt' go as well as it could have as I was couch surfing and at the whim of my friend. However, i had a fucking awesome time. I L O V E utah and I am already planning a return trip back. This time I'll be driving from LA and staying in a cheap hotel so I hit up some of the other resorts!!

__________________if a cat fucked a shark, the babies would be called women.snowklinger

I rode solitude thursday. Was the day fo sho' Deep fluffy pow turns were made.

My trip didnt' go as well as it could have as I was couch surfing and at the whim of my friend. However, i had a fucking awesome time. I L O V E utah and I am already planning a return trip back. This time I'll be driving from LA and staying in a cheap hotel so I hit up some of the other resorts!!

Had a great damn time today. Most of the freshies were gone but there were plenty untouched skiers right down Mineral Basin it was great. Didn't think I would encounter freshies so I didn't bust my bindings back on my new Happy Hour.

A few freshies than soft but fast groomers all day with some fresh stashes mixed in. Mostly a freeride day. Not a ton of natural features to freestyle off of though, but I have yet to fully ride 70% of the front of the mountain so we'll see tomorrow. Saw some potential spots and if my knees aren't thrashed (they're weak right now) will check out the terrain park for shits and giggles.

And their greens are comparable to a lot of black runs here. Not only that, but nothing was groomed, so all the runs were choppy...lots of snow, but not smooth powder, so if you're not used to that, it'll chew you up and spit you out...at least it did to me. I was finally getting comfortable with those kinds of conditions, and was riding with some speed down the back and hit a chunk and just tumbled and tumbled. Good times, but it's been a very very painful couple of days. Haha

Just what we love...below at 2:30 a relatively easy double black...duck a rope and we have probably 3 and 4 rated blacks

Lol...true story to back you up....Years ago I started skiing...was about 25 or so. I live in NC so not a lot of expert terrain here. I skied for 1 season(meaning I got to go about 5-6 day trips) and we took one weekend trip to Snowshoe Wva. Me and my roommate at the time had never skiied before but we really loved it. At Snowshoe another friend of mine that was a very good skier got us going down a couple of the "double blacks" there. We were able to make it down with some difficulty but no broken bones, lol. That summer we went out and bought our own gear and the following winter me and the roommate went to Stowe for a week. Well it was horrible conditions...icy as hell and fog, etc. We decided we would try a double black diamond at Stowe because hey what the hell, we had ridden them before no prob. Me and my friend started down one of these things and at first it wasn't to bad. Vey similar in pitch/difficulty to what we were used to. Then we come around the bend to a cliff, lol. Our skis are sticking off in the air. It was too steep to go back up so we had no choice but to go down. I kind of side slipped/jumped off, tried to make a turn but my feet slid out and I started sliding. I remember sliding so fast that I was passing people that were skiing! I thought I have got to slow down so I tried to ram my ski edges in which of course caused me to flip end over end down the hill. When I finally came to rest I was under a lift and people were yelling to ask me if I was ok. I luckily, amazingly, was intact and said so. Then I got a round of applause, lol. Scared the beejesus out of me. I had skis and gear scattered behind me halfway up the mountain. That definitely opened my eyes up to how one mountains black diamond may not equal anothers.

This sounds like you accidentally dropped into Lift Line of the famous Front Four at Stowe. Definitely not the same as most other double blacks on the east coast.